


I hear your footsteps on the ground, and my heart slows down.

by SuchASeeweedBrain



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Insomnia, M/M, Nightmares, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, with a tiny bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 17:29:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7766839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchASeeweedBrain/pseuds/SuchASeeweedBrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the lyric: I hear your footsteps on the ground, and my heart slows down. </p><p>Derek didn't have nightmares that often anymore, not since him and Stiles had left Beacon Hills. When he did have them though, they went all out. Luckily Stiles is not all that good at sleeping anymore either, so at 2:30 in the morning they have a recap of their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I hear your footsteps on the ground, and my heart slows down.

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to this really old Jonas Brothers CD (I know, okay, don't judge me, it's a guilty pleasure) and I heard this lyric in the song Invisible. And all I could see was Der waking up from a nightmare and calming down after hearing Stiles' footsteps. So I wrote this short little thing in an hour.

Derek didn’t have nightmares all that often anymore, but when he did, he did it right. He could almost taste the ash in his mouth. Smell the fire in the air. He saw Erica and Boyd, Isaac flinching away from him. Allison being impaled, Stiles’ eyes, face, body, taken over by the ancient spirit. Laura ripped to shreds. And smoke, so much smoke, clenching around his lungs. He could hear his own heartbeat speed up, pounding in his ears. There was the faint sound of a voice in the background, something feminine, cold. Panic seemed to make its way into his throat. Something cold settled in his gut as he could almost feel the fire on his face, his packs blood on his hands. Why was he so hot? He felt caught, trapped. He knew his eyes were shining blue the moment he opened them with a gasp.

There was no fire, none of his dead friends. The bedroom of the apartment was dark, silent, too quiet. He figured out what the trapped feeling came from. His legs were tangled in the sheets. He had trouble getting them loose even awake. Stiles’ side of the bed was empty. Not particularly unusual. Since he and Stiles had left Beacon Hills for New York it had been getting better but he was still often awake at ungodly hours of the night. Derek tried to concentrate on calming down his racing heartbeat, getting his shift under control as well. He raised his hands, they were trembling slightly. How had he ended up so fucked up? A string of bad decisions. All his own fault. Well, thank god he never tried to convince anyone he was perfect. He tried to concentrate but it felt like there was still ash in the back of his throat and he felt the panic bubble back up.

Suddenly his ears focussed on the soft sound of bare feet in the living room. There was something so specific about the way Stiles walked. Still during these nightly walks there was something in his step. Threat light, but confident and controlled. Far different from the flailing gangling mess he was when they’d first met. Still he stumbled and tripped plenty, but his regular step was much more confident now, solid in his footing more often than not.

Derek felt his heartbeat slow as he listened to Stiles pace the living room. He slowly untangled his legs with unshaking hands. After he had untangled his legs and taken another few deep breaths he felt much better. He ran a hand through his hair and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. The thin layer of sweat he’d worked up in his dream had cooled him down significantly, so he picked up a pair of sweatpants as he got up. Were they his? Stiles’? Who knew. He slipped them on before he made his way over to the bedroom door. He could hear Stiles in the kitchen before he opened the door. His heartbeat was calm. He entered the living room. Stiles was wearing what were definitely Derek’s sweatpants, so Derek must be wearing Stiles’.

‘Hey.’ Derek greeted. A quick glance at the clock told him it was 2:30 in the morning. Damn. Stiles tensed for just a second, before relaxing and turning around. His long fingers were wrapped around a mug of what smelled like tea.

‘Hey. You want tea?’ Stiles didn’t even sound surprised that Derek was up.

‘No thanks. Couldn’t sleep?’ He asked as he moved to sit on the couch. Stiles came to join him there. He curled up under Derek’s arm before answering.

‘No, I kept feeling like someone was watching me, you know. That pressing feeling on my head. It’s just a headache, but if I’ve got that in my head there’s just no stopping my mind you know.’ Stiles shrugged, careful not to spill his tea.

‘You’ve just got too much mind capacity sometimes.’ Derek smiled, kissing Stiles’ temple. ‘Too smart for your own good.’

‘I love it when you compliment me.’ Stiles smiled. ‘What about you?’

‘Nightmare.’ Derek had learned that despite still being human, lying to Stiles was a waste of breath. Stiles frowned.

‘Damn, sorry.’ Derek was shaking his head even before Stiles could finish apologizing.

‘Stop that. It’s not your fault I have nightmares.’ Derek chastised.

‘You never have them when I’m there.’ Stiles whispered. Taking a sip of his tea, mint.

‘That’s because you distract me.’ Derek murmured in his ear. He can feel Stiles’ blood rush to his cheeks. ‘No but seriously. You calm me down, keep me calm, you know that.’ Stiles smiled almost shyly.

‘You do the same for me, you know. It’s like I’m more centred around you. Grounded.’ Stiles smiled into his mug. ‘It’s nice. Being here, with you. Away from Beacon Hills.’

‘I know. It’s almost scary how calm this feels.’ Derek mused, stroking his fingers over Stiles’ bare shoulder.

‘O absolutely. I constantly expect the monster of the week to jump out of the shadows.’ Stiles wiggled his fingers around his mug before taking another sip.

‘Do you miss it?’ Derek knew he didn’t phrase the question quite right, but Stiles seemed to understand anyway.

‘No. I don’t, I thought I would, you know the adrenaline, the challenge of finding out the way to kill the thing before it killed us. I mean, I miss my dad, and Scott. Lydia. But I don’t miss Beacon Hills. Too many bad memories, you know?’

‘Yeah absolutely. I’m surprised how much New York feels like home.’ Derek confessed, turning to brush his nose against Stiles temple. ‘Or maybe it’s just you.’ He chuckled. Stiles choked on his sip of tea. Derek plucked the mug out of his hands before he could spill the tea all over himself and Derek, as Stiles coughed.

‘Dude.’ Stiles complained. ‘You can’t say shit like that while I’m trying to drink.’

‘It’s the truth though. I’ve never felt this with anyone before.’

‘Not even Paige?’ Silence. ‘O god I should not have asked you that, that was so rude I’m so sorry Der I didn’t even mean to say that I promise-‘

‘Stiles.’ Derek interrupted. ‘It’s fine.’

‘No it’s not, I mean it’s like you asking me if I love you as much as I loved my mom. Which I now also realized was a really weird thing to say, I mean to compare the way you loved Paige to the way I loved my mom? So weird, I’m totally incapable of being-‘ Derek put the mug of tea back in Stiles hands, it seemed to startle Stiles out of his ramble.

‘It’s okay Stiles. I did love Paige, but not in the same way I love you.’ Stiles heartbeat blipped at that. He still hadn’t gotten used to Derek saying that.

‘I’m never going to get used to you saying that.’ Stiles murmured to confirm Derek’s thoughts.

‘Finish your tea. I wanna go back to bed.’ Derek told him. Tapping the mug with a finger.

‘Help me drink it.’ Stiles whined. Derek rolled his eyes but took the cup from him anyway. He took a large swallow of the mint tea. There was just a hint of honey in there that made him smile.

‘There.’ He handed the drink back to Stiles, who took a sip. ‘Drink up.’

‘Me hearties yo ho.’ Stiles hummed, which made Derek snort. Stiles grinned around the mug as he took another sip.

‘Really?’ Derek questioned as Stiles took the final swallow of tea. ‘Let’s go to bed Jack Sparrow.’

‘Captain Jack Sparrow thank you very much.’ Stiles said airily. Getting up from the couch.

‘Right. Come on Captain let’s go to bed.’ They left the mug on the coffee table. That was something for tomorrow, or later today was probably more accurate. They made their way back to the bedroom and curled up in bed. Derek couldn’t help but burry his nose in Stiles hair for a second he smelled vaguely of tea, mint and honey, but mostly of Stiles, purely Stiles. He knew he’d sleep without problem now.


End file.
